People enjoy golf because they get to spend time outdoors in a beautiful setting, because they get to master a challenging skill, and because it can be a rich social experience. However, even though no two golf courses are the same, and no two rounds of golf will ever be the same, there is one constant that appears throughout games of golf. Satisfaction comes from performing well. Many golfers are familiar with the frustration and discontent that they suffer when they don't play well. The frustration or annoyance of not playing well is only aggravated when the poor outcomes are attributable to equipment that gives inconsistent results.
Some have theorized that putting may be the least reliable or consistent part of the golfer's game. Nevertheless, putting is a significant part of golf. For example, it has been estimated that in 2012, the entire PGA Tour averaged 30 putts out of 71 strokes per round. This means that even for the best players, putting makes up about 40% of all shots. Because putting is such a large part of a golfer's score, the inconsistency in putting experiences is particularly vexatious. What may further aggravate the annoyance and frustration of many golfers is the difficulty in identifying why putting performance is so much less reliable and less consistent that drives and fairway shots.
Some have speculated that aesthetic appearance of a putter is one of its most important attributes. See U.S. Pat. No. 9,132,324. However, it is unlikely that mere aesthetic changes will improve the reliability and consistency of a putter's performance.